Aya Umemura edged fellow Japanese An Konishi 4-3 to reach the women's semifinals of the Ogimura Cup table tennis tournament on Saturday, while teenage phenom Ai Fukuhara's competition ended after losing her doubles match.
Umemura won 11-7, 11-2, 6-11, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6 to become the only Japanese surviving in the singles draw, joining Wang Shan of China, Kim Kyung Ah of South Korea and Romanian Mihaela Steff in the last four.
Wang ousted Japan's Ai Fujinuma 4-2 while Kim came from two games down to down Olga Nemes of Germany 4-2. Steff cruised past South Korea's Kim Bok Rae 4-0.
The 13-year-old Fukuhara, who has been named to the Japanese team for the upcoming Asian Games in South Korea, and Konishi lost 4-3 to the German pair of Nemes and Nikole Struse in the women's doubles quarterfinals.
In the men's singles, Zoran Primorac (Croatia), Karlinikos Kreanga (Greece), Chuan Chih-yuan (Taiwan) and Qiu Yuke (China) advanced to the semifinals.